See also - BSA - BRITAIN'S ARMOURER by John Walter,
extracted from The Gun Digest Volume IV 1984
and BSA's own WW2 history book - THE OTHER BATTLE
Please read through the four alternatives and draw your own conclusions!
The answer really depends upon a determination of such point as you deem relevant to any particular part of the development of B.S.A.'s various formative and associated companies. However, probably the best reference relating the circumstances under which, and the period over which, the grouping of Birmingham gunsmiths metamorphosed into the Birmingham Small Arms Company, can be found in their own later company history of the period of the Second World War (1939-45), "The Other Battle".
You may also separately view a replication of an early B.S.A. pamphlet, of their own early history up to 1918, immediately post the Great War
CLICK IMAGE BELOW
Additionally, the link here will take you to our page carrying complete BSA catalogues from 1908 to the 1930s - in PDF format.
and this link is to our menu for all this site's B.S.A. Rifles reference pages
The facsimile flip-page copy of the BSA Second World War history book
"The Munitions of War"
This is a large file which may take a while to load.
An indication of the significance of the Birmingham Small Arms Company in Great Britain by 1948, just four years after the Second World War, is a list of their subsidiary companies. At this time, the Company Chairman was the flamboyant Sir Bernard Docker, perhaps most publicly known both for his seemingly extravagant gold-plated Rolls Royce and his extrovert and expensively dressed wife, Lady Docker.
The listing of subsidiary companies to the B.S.A. Co. was as follows
CARS, BUSES and BODIES
Daimler Co. Ltd. ( Car and Engine manufacturers - including the Ferret armoured car)
The Lanchester Motor Co. Ltd.
Transport Vehicles ( Daimler) Ltd. (Makers of ambulances amongst other vehicles)
Barker & Co. (Coachbuilders) Ltd
..................All the above at Coventry
Hooper & Co. (Coachbuilders) Ltd ......( at London)
BICYCLES and MOTOR CYCLES
BSA Cycles Ltd.
Ariel Motors Ltd. ( Makers of the famous Ariel "Square Four" Motorcycle)
New Hudson Ltd.
Sunbeam Cycles Ltd.
...............All the above at Birmingham
GUNS and RIFLES
BSA Guns Ltd.
..........Birmingham
IRON CASTINGS
Cardiff Foundry and Engineering Company (1947) Ltd.
...........Cardiff
MACHINE and SMALL TOOLS
BSA Tools Ltd.
Burton Griffiths & Co. Ltd.
B.G. Machinery Ltd.
...............All at Birmingham
FINE STEELS
William Jessop & Sons. Ltd. ( makers of the Jessops 'special' steel famously used in the barrels of so many of B.S.A.'s rifles)
J.J. Saville & Co. Ltd.
Bromley, Fisher & Turton Ltd.
............ All at Sheffield
COAL CLEANING and HANDLING PLANTS
The Birtley Co. Ltd.
............. County Durham
HARD CHROME PROCESS
Monochrome Ltd.
............... Redditch
SINTERED METALS
Metal & Plastic Compacts Ltd.
................. Birmingham
Because some companies in the Group had not always been able to show a profit after the War, and the Finance Act precluded offsetting the losses of one company against another unless all companies and their assets were wholly owned by the group, in August 1947 the B.S.A. Co. bought the assets of all their subsidiaries and subsidiary companies. This was the factor which explained unusual annual figures in the group's 1948 statement of accounts.
This is in the form of a large text-searchable flip-page document that may take a few moments to load.
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